Vermont Aviation

Good morning fellow aviation enthusiasts, I've been toying with the idea of hosting aviation events in 2025 and I have a healthy list, but I wanted to run it by the group.  I think an open house at a new airport once a month would be an excellent way to involve the community.  Nothing too wild, maybe a food truck or two, a few planes on display, maybe some type of STEM display.  We definitely want someone at each airport with a "learn to fly" banner who can answer basic questions.  Again, this is NOT intended to be a large scale expo, we're keeping it simple.  These would be fly-in style events so participation from other airports would be highly encouraged, possibly rewarded.  More on that at a later date.  Another activity on my list is a poker run.  I tried a few years back and after 4 months of planning with the state, it was canceled the week before Halloween.  And my final summer project would be the return of "around the mountains in 80 days".  It was a event the state organized years ago and had great success.   
Here is a simple recap, please feel free to add suggestions. 

1. Cabin Fever - March 1st
2. Open House
3. Poker Run
4. Around the Mountains In 80 Days

Congratulations, Scott, that is excellent news. Many thanks to all who made this happen!! Where is the new department announcement, I'd love to read it. The only thing I saw was the announcement that Aviation would be its own division.

Kim
KDDH

As far as I know, this is an unanswered question.

I have been told that there is no closure required or expected.

I have also been advised to expect a closure of unknown duration.

Hopefully we can get a firm, and categorical statement from the  Aviation Department, now that it’s under new management.

jh

As most of you know, both Evan Robinson (new "director" of the reconstituted Vermont Aviation division), and Mike Sturges (his assistant, not sure of titles yet), are both now officially on board at VTrans. We've had the pleasure of meeting Mike at our recent NEKIAC meeting at Newport a week ago. Great first impressions. Great start.

In a more recent bit of news, Rollin Tebbetts, State Airport Operations & Maintenance Manager, has resigned, effective at the end of December 2024.

Things are changing...

Minutes from this meeting
Attendees, in-person: Scott Winick, Dan Gauvin, Zach Gauvin, Mike Caffrey, Ron Horton, Mike Sturges, Paul Monette, Alain Lucier, Jake Swanson, Devin Julia
Attendees, call-in: Heather McKeown, Bruce Macfarlane
Attendees, proxy: Bill Stenger, Jim Sullivan

Convened at 5:02PM.

Introduction of attendees.

Minutes from 11-19-2024 reviewed and approved.

Ron H: Motion (via printed handout and read to attendees) to change nomenclature of current positions of Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary to President, Treasurer/VP, Secretary to facilitate 501(c)(3) requirements, 1 year term, aviation qualifications to hold position, additional officers, advisory members of committees, as needed. Unanimously approved.
Elections  (all positions were nominated, seconded and unanimously elected)
President: Scott W
Treasurer / VP: Dan G
Secretary: Paul M

Scott W: Thanks to former officers (Linda S, Matt M) for their service in the prior year.

Introduction and welcome to Mike Sturges
Retired AA captain, a ton of GA flying experience as well, not currently an aircraft owner, home base is nominally FSO, long time friend / neighbor of Secretary of Transportation Joe Flynn, assistant to the incoming head of the reconstituted aviation division Evan Robinson, intends to provide the aviation sensitive “guardrails” to help Evan navigate and stablish new relationships with the aviation constituents and stakeholders in Vermont. We all enthusiastically welcome both Mike and Evan!

Changes at VTrans (see above)

General agreement to let Mike and Evan get their feet on the ground before inundating them with specific issues
Most, if not all, issues have been collected and collated in the Hot Topics sections of the VermontAviation.com Chat Board
Mike S is keeping track of that board and those issues.

Online information access and comments
New sites seem OK
Remind everyone they must go to the Board or Topic in which they're interested, and select the "Notify" button in order to get emails automatically when new items occur.
Everyone is allowed to "see" those Boards and Topics if they visit the Chat Board, but they will not get notifications of new items unless they select "Notify".

New terminal status after the 30 day bid process from 10-15-2024 - 11-15-2024.
Low bidder was nearly 40% higher than the amount available ($1.3M v. $950K).
At this cost, and if "on budget", this represents a cost of more than $700/sq. ft. for the space.
Alain L: Make an unsolicited proposal based on our previous proposal to renovate the old hangar building next door.
Scott W., Dan G., Paul M will try to dig through the archives to find all that material. Bill S. may have some of it, too.

No new news on RWY 18 approach timing, but Mike S took note of this issue and will see what he can find out.
At FSO they were able to bring forward the timing of a runway / approach lighting issue, so perhaps they can do the same for approval of LNAV GPS 18.

No news on CBP issue.

No news on pending Supreme Court decision re Hangar Owners v. VTrans.

Re-imagining the VAAC - next steps? Attend VAAC meeting January 7 2025 if possible. In person and virtual attendance is available. Details are posted on Chat Board.

Try to support Young Eagles with some pilots and planes at FSO this spring / early summer.

No meeting in January 2025.

Next meeting February 3 2025 will be a brief meeting followed by Mid-Winter - POT LUCK DINNER! Spouses welcome. Details to follow.

Meeting adjourned at 6:10PM.

Followed by a lively and entertaining VFR Club meeting, hosted by Devin Julia, CFI/CFII. Topic was: What are your "go to" tools for planning a long VFR trip?
Biggest take-away for me: Get back into the habit of calling for a live wx briefing with an FAA wx expert in addition to all your other planning tools! Since the advent of Foreflight weather briefing data dumps, I'd stopped doing that at all. Thanks Devin! I'll post a selection of topics for the next meeting and we can "vote" on which one we'd like to cover. Plenty of ideas to choose from. It was really fun to hear everyone's perspectives on this first topic.